BBH Finally Finds New North American CEO

By Kiran Aditham 

It took six months and change, but BBH has finally selected a new CEO for North America in Patrick Lafferty, who joins said agency after spending two-and-a-half years at McCann and the last 18 months as its North American COO. Lafferty replaces Greg Andersen, who was one of those affected by BBH’s major “restructuring” last fall. Lafferty, who will officially assume his CEO title at BBH this summer and based out of its New York office, rounds out a leadership team that includes CCO John Patroulis, CSO Sarah Watson and chairman, Emma Cookson.

Lafferty’s soon-to-be boss, BBH Group CEO Gwyn Jones, says in a statement, “Patrick has a really calm authority and such a rich body of experience. He has seen and done a lot both within and beyond our industry – embracing client side, media ownership and the military. We have great strategic and creative strength in the business, and I think Pat will bring outstanding leadership to that offering. On top of all that – I think he is just a great person.”

As you’d expect, Lafferty, who was, yes, a former platoon leader/company commander in the U.S. Army, will be tasked with running both BBH New York, which of course handles Axe and now Playstation, and L.A., which services clients including Red Bull. During his career, the exec has also worked on the account side at Leo Burnett and as CMO at Travel Channel.

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